Permanent street trading licences

Skip to:

About permanent street trading licences

You need a licence to trade on the public highway, including the pavement or any other area (not within a permanently enclosed premises) that is within seven meters of any road or footway.

Street trading is the selling, offering or exposing for sale of any item or service in the street. This includes stalls (including market), shop-front displays, cafe tables and chairs with service.   We are currently also looking into the possibility of licensing mobile street traders in the future.  Please keep checking this website for further updates.

Apply for a permanent street trading licence

Apply for a permanent street trading licence (PDF 0.2MB)

When you need to apply for a permanent street trading licence

Permanent Street Trading licence applications can only be applied for once you have successfully applied for, and been granted the following:

When the above applications have been granted you will be able to apply for a permanent street trading licence for the below types of street trading.

  • shop front displays and table and chairs on the public highway outside a premises. This display must be a continuation of the main business of the shop applying and not entirely different commodities.
  • traditional ‘pitch’ style traders
  • mobile street traders

Who can get a permanent street trading licence

To apply you must have: 

  • not been or be in the process of being prosecuted by the licensing authority for unlicensed street trading activities.
  • not had a street trading revoked by the London Borough of Barnet’s Licensing Authority
  • Public Liability Insurance cover in place for the premises

Licence conditions

All street trading licences issued by the Licensing Authority are subject to the London Borough of Barnet’s standard Street Trading Licence Conditions.

You must:

  • have the right to occupy the land from which they want to trade
  • have enough space on the public highway to enable them to place their display of goods or tables and chairs leaving a minimum of 2 metres between the trading area and the curb (or any street furniture)
  • in the case of applicants wanting to display goods outside of their premises, the goods that are on display MUST be in keeping with the products sold inside the premises.
  • distance, clearance and barriers - To apply for a street trading licence there must be at least 2 meters clearance between the edge of the trading area and the curb (or any permanent obstruction ie street furniture). We allow removable barriers to be placed on the public highway to enclose a street trading area
  • street trading can only take place from 7 am until 11 pm. After this time the public highway must be cleared of all street trading furniture.

The Licensing Authority may also attach additional conditions to any licence where it is deemed appropriate.

More information on what is and is not allowed under a licence:

Costs

Application

The fees will be in effect from 1st January 2024. 

The total cost of a 3 Year Street Trading Application is £659. 

This fee is split into two payments.  The initial £218 non-refundable application fee must be paid at the time that the application has been submitted.  The second payment of £441 will need to be paid at the end of the application process before the licence can be issued to you. 

When making your application, please provide us with a suitable contact number so we can call you to take the fee over the phone.

Annual Fee

An annual fee must be paid by each permanent street trader on the anniversary of the grant of their licence. 

Studs

In addition to this you will need to pay for metal studs to be installed in the highway which will mark out your trading area.  The number of studs that your trading site will require is determined by its size.  Studs are usually placed at approximately 2m intervals around the trading area.  An average sized street trading area requires approximately 6 studs.

The studs are currently priced at £25.19 per stud.

Failure to pay for the application and issuing fees would result in your application being refused.

Failure to pay the stud fee or an annual fee could result in your licence being revoked. 

Documents you must supply with your application

The following documents must be supplied to the Licensing Team along with your application in order for them to be able to accept your application:

  • evidence of public liability insurance in respect of anything to be done following the licence as the authority may require
  • a plan clearly showing the proposed area covered by the licence in relation to the highway, if not to scale, with measurements clearly shown
  • evidence of the right to occupy the premises. For example the lease document
  • photos or brochures showing the proposed type of furniture and information on potential siting of it within the area applied
  • passport sized photo of the applicant
  • appropriate application fee

Granting the application

Once a valid application has been made for a suitable trader / premises a 10 working day consultation will begin.  Local ward Councillors, The Police, Environmental Health and the Highways departments are all consulted as part of this process.

At the end of the consultation period and as long as no objections to the grant of the licence has been received the application will be deemed granted and the licence issued to you once the issuing fee has been paid.

Should objections to the application be received by the Licensing Team your application will be sent to a Licensing Sub Committee Hearing.  These hearings are held by a panel of 3 Ward Councillors who will determine the outcome of the application after hearing from all parties involved. 

Should you wish to appeal against the decision of the Licensing Sub committee you can do so my making an application to the Magistrates Court within 21 days of the decision being made.